Our ill ones and our hopeless cry out to God
Yet we let the answer slip through our fingertips


Liz Gray 3/28/2007

I’ve seen many tribal leaders and council members wringing their hands when they are confronted with the illnesses of their people. The stories of limb loss and blindness due to diabetes of their people plague them. When the issue gets overwhelming and they don’t know where to turn, sometimes they shut it out, or give in, accepting the idea that we are genetically destined to this disease. They accept the lie that Indian people are prone to diabetes and its side effects and there is nothing that can be done about it. They hang their head for a while from despair because many of them truly wanted to help their people. Then they stop talking about it because they don’t know what to do. The issue was just too confusing and overwhelming for them to conquer. So, it silently haunts them as they ignore it. And the plague continues.

Let me make it simple for you by asking this question: Would the Creator design an environment or a genetic flaw that would allow this horrific illness to happen to His people? This Creator we have danced for since the beginning of our time?

No, He wouldn’t, anymore than he would the other animals of the earth.


If you could imagine a herd of caribou running across the tundra of Alaska healthy and free would you believe that they are created to do such a thing? And if the Caribou all of a sudden stopped running and became short of breath, and if they obtained a disease that rotted their hooves or blinded their eyes, would you blame their genetic makeup that the Creator put in to existence for our four-legged relatives? No. You would probably first look at their environment to see what had changed. You would look at their food source to see what toxins or change took place within it. But you certainly would not blame the Caribou for being Caribou.


Such as it is for our people. We are designed to be as healthy as the Caribou. We are a reflection of the Creator’s harmonious creation. The problem is we are no longer in harmony with Him and our environment. We are no longer fed by Him like we used to be… like our animal relatives of the earth and our elders before us. As a result, we are ill. The various “lifeforce” that flowed from the sun to the plants to the animals that we ate have been cut off from us; either thru our own choice or thru our circumstances.


We as Native people take pride in our dance celebrations. The poorest of our poor somehow still have the ability to put together dance regalia for their children or themselves. They collect bead after bead. They trade, they borrow or they labor over the task until it is complete.


So why don’t we do that with our traditional diet?


Why don’t we hold on to that tradition? We want to hold on to our language, our clan identities, our lands, even our jewelry. But we tend to ignore the traditional knowledge of our elders when it comes to diet.


We’ve been taught that our traditional knowledge of food isn’t as good as the federal government’s knowledge of today. We listen to their advice over and over yet we are still ill. We follow their food pyramid and we don’t argue with the foods they provide us thru the government commodity program. Yet we are more ill than anytime in history… any time in history.


When is it time to stop listening to those who pose as intellectuals who know more than our people and begin again to think for ourselves as the Creator intended? To reestablish our inherent knowledge of how and what to eat by what used to work.
Some would say, “We can’t.” But have we tried? Have we tried to regain our traditions that pertain to food or are we too in love with the modern foods we are eating?


Prior to 1936, Indian people didn’t have diabetes. What changed? It can’t be that we exercised more, because we had lame and elderly that were no longer able to exercise, yet they didn’t obtain diabetes. We have the Pima Indians who have four times the national average of diabetes. Almost half of the entire tribe are diabetic. Yet their relatives south of the border, who live from traditional foods have almost no signs of diabetes.


There has been study after study that proves diabetes is curable thru diet. Yet that information is accessible to only those who seek it through medical libraries and the like. Actually the cure for diabetes is through the “medicine” that is implanted, by our Creator, in living foods; foods that have not been processed to death. Foods that still have the “life force” or the energy of the Creator existing inside of it. That is one way our ancestors sought the Creator. They were always seeking that “life force”. Sometimes they called it a blessing, sometimes they called it the “spirit” of the animal. That’s why the plains tribes ate the raw liver of a buffalo during a hunt. Scientists today will tell you it was full of nutrients. Which is this “life force” we need that God implanted in the animal.


The woodland tribes “blessed” their corn by putting ash on it when they cooked it. Many people still do that today and don’t really know why. Yet, scientifically, it has been proven that it causes the corn’s acid level to change and chemically release more nutrients. We just knew it as a “blessing”.


This energy of nutrients was actually the blessing our ancestors were always looking for. It was just spoke of with different terminology. But THAT was the key to their health! And it is the key to ours.


If we were to only seek after that “life force” once again, we would find the answer to our illnesses.


Our ancestors understood that their traditions, related to food, was actually a connection to the Creator and his creation. Not only that, but they realized it was good for them! And it was good for their soul. They cherished it. They were proud of it. They even celebrated it.


Today we eat foods that have purposefully been processed to remove this “life force” because it shortens the shelf life of food products. Food producers know that other living organisms cherish this “life force”, organisms that grow on these foods and cause rotting or mold.


So today we are doing the opposite of our ancestors. We are eating foods that are purposefully depleted of the “life force”. Apparently they knew how important these traditions were because look at the condition we are in today.


Tribal leaders need to assign historians teamed up with cooks to gather this information and support their tribe’s traditions related to food once again. Make it as important as their NAGPRA programs or their HUD programs. Knowing that this is directly related to the life or death of their tribal members, is it not just as important?
We need to reconnect with our Creator in this way. Then we would realize how well made we are when our bodies respond in a positive manner. And we would find the Creator made no mistakes when making His native people.


For whatever reason, we have been separated from Him. It’s not time to place blame, it’s just time to reconnect.

[Liz can be reached at lizgray@nativetimes.com]


Blissed be, Annie

ANNIE,
INTERESTING! I HAVE ALWAYS ADMIRED THE NATIVE AMERICANS. THAT IS A SAD STORY. I HOPE IT CAN BE RESOLVED.WE, AS A PEOPLE NEED TO GET BACK TO NATURE TO REGAIN HEALTH. JANICE

The state of health of the Native American population in general is, unfortunately, dismal. The newest phase of successive American governments' plans to exterminate them?

I've never done any investigation or research nor do I have any solid knowledge of the general health of Native Americans. However, I'm sure that I've heard and read that there is a lot of alcoholism and obesity among Native Americans. These things surely don't come as a result of following the government's adivce regarding food, do they? Couldn't. At least I don't see how they could.

Additionally, I remember talking with some Native Americans many years ago about why I'd never seen a Native American restaurant. She said it's pretty near impossile because the plant foods they ate are so rare these days. So, it seems, that for most or even many Native Americans to get back to their traditional diets is pretty much impossible. They could grow the plants. That's the only way because the wild plants don't exist to any large extent. Anyway, this is my understanding.



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

i like what liz said about the sustenance as a way to connecting with Creator and Creation

that is nicely put

she also uses "life force"